“The day is coming when a single carrot, freshly observed, will set off a revolution.”

Paul Cezanne

Food is an integral and essential part of our every day lives. It is also a subject of great cultural curiosity and environmental importance, not to mention a source of huge enjoyment. Many of my happiest moments have been spent sharing a good meal around a table with close friends and family.

In 2018 I left a career in the City to follow my passion into the world of food and drink. I moved to Italy and after completing a Masters in Food Culture at the University of Gastronomic Sciences, the educational arm of Carlo Petrini’s Slow Food initiative, I set out to understand the lives and cultures behind great, artisanal food products.

I went to live with charcuterie producers in Emilia Romagna and wine makers in Tuscany and Burgundy. I also experienced the sharp edge of food in the kitchen of a Michelin star, farm to table restaurant. Traveling to Japan I and met with producers of katsuobushi, miso, shoryu and sake and saw wasabi growing high up in the mountains of the Mie Prefecture. I also spent time in the Netherlands to understanding the solutions being devised by some of the world’s most innovative food producers to help us eat in a more sustainable way.

As my understanding grew, so did my appetite. I came to understand that great products were an authentic expression of how communities interact with their immediate physical environment. Good stewardship of the land by thriving communities resulted in better tasting food, whilst bad food was the often the product of unsustainable environmental practices and social degradation. This idea was codified by Petrini when he said that food should be buono, pulito e giusto, or good, clean and fair.

The artist Paul Cezanne understood that something seemingly as simple as a carrot had almost infinite complexity, far more so than any synthetic object. If a carrot could set off a revolution, imagine the potential of a cheese, wine, or garum that combined both natural forces and human ingenuity. When those ingredients start to combine into dishes, and the dishes become meals, every mouthful suddenly opens up a whole world of stories.

This blog will try tell the stories behind our food in an attempt to understand what makes a truly great gastronomic experiences. The end goal, of course, is for us all to enjoy more of them.

Buon appetito!